Wednesday, October 28, 2015

A good gramma does her best to keep the girls warm when winter wanders by! I am doing my level best to be a good gramma over here...

Projects shown are Alphamitts and a new Hello Kitty hat for Peanut, and the start of Paper Doll mittens for Sweet Pea (who already has two hand-me-down Hello-Kitty hats!). Short and sweet post today...mittens don't knit themselves, ya know!

Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health!

PS - I gifted the Little Family yesterday, and Ben is totally knitworthy! Not only did he immediately "get" that this was his family, he played with the dolls and showed them off to everyone during my entire session...and exclaimed, "They look like us! My wife is gonna love these!," more than once. Yay for knitworthy people!

Saturday, October 24, 2015

As I look through my Ravelry projects page, I notice something...apparently, I like to knit in small bites! You've seen the blocks(I'm up to 11),

and of course the hexipuffs(I'm up to 186!) and 8 tiny mittens(I also knit multiples much of the time, and there will be more mittens, blocks and hexipuffs).

As I look at the multiple, small bites of my knitting, I see lots of toys in the mix, too...so why should my newest FOs be any different? Of course they should not, and they are not. Allow me to present to you the Little Family!

This started as a gift for my physical therapist. You see, after my appointment last week (still working out that new hip - 12 weeks, woo-hoo!), I heard on the radio that October is National Physical Therapy Month. I did nothing to check out the validity of that claim...I know that there's a holiday for everything these days...so I just took it at face value, and I started knitting a small version of my physical therapist.

Wouldn't he get a kick out of that? Or would he be totally freaked out by it...? Stalker much? o_0

Perhaps it is a little weird to receive a tiny, knitted likeness of yourself from a patient. What would make it less weird? Perhaps if I included his wife. So I did.

Nope. Still pretty weird. BUT, I know that he has a 2-year-old (I've knitted a couple things for the little guy already, a soccer ball last summer, and a football this year), and they have a tiny girl on the way...so, I just knitted the whole family. Not quite as weird. Still a little odd, but I've already set the precedent of the knitted gift(s) for his kids, so this is now just a variation on a theme. A variation on two or three themes, considering that the Little Family also falls into the "small bites" and "multiples" themes of my project page! Here they are, ready to be gifted:

So, there you have it! My weird and wonderful knitting, in small bites and multiples, this week! Oh, and I've finished the alphabet-ed mittens(which you might have noticed in some of the pictures above, but here's a pic where they are the "star")!

That means it's time to finalize my plan and start the matching baby mitts...so, I gotta go! I'm so glad that you stopped by, and I hope that your weekend finds you Knitting in Good Health!

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

In between squishy baby blocks, I've decided to knit some mittens, and I'm having a really good time with them! Or with the first one anyway, and the start of the second! It's the first time I've knit colorwork kids' mittens, and these are fabulous! I did have my doubts at the beginning, and actually I doubted all the way through mitten #1 in Cascade Heritage Sock and Knit Picks Felici(all sold out now, but they'll bring more stripes back every so often)...

That violet stripe doesn't have the contrast I'd like, but Peanut's 4-year-old eyes should still be able to pick out those last few letters.

And then, I blocked it, and myyy, oh my!

So very lovely!

Stitches so even and pretty, and just slightly more "pop" from the letters! I'm absolutely smitten with this alphabet-ed mitten! Why am I still typing? I must knit mitten #2! Then #s 3 and 4 (baby mitts for Sweet Pea, don'tcha-know)! Yes, colorwork mittens are the most fun knittin', hands down!

What's the most fun project YOU've ever knit? I'd love to hear about it in the comments (and maybe add it to my Ravelry queue)!

Thanks for stopping by, and whatever you're knittin', Knit in Good Health!

Saturday, October 17, 2015

That's right! Today is the day! I have written up the FREE instructions for my Squishy Baby Blocks, and the pattern is live on Ravelry (and here)!

You've seen the blocks on my project page, and in the blog, and now you can make your very own! There is no gauge or yardage listed in the pattern, because this one is really good for scraps. I used worsted yarn with 4mm needles, but that's really just a suggestion. Use what works for you. Well, maybe try to get about 5 sts/in if you want to follow the pattern exactly, but you only need a small amount of yarn for each block.

All in all, my hope is that you get creative and have some fun with these. Even beginners can go crazy, because there isn't anything fancy going on...no knitting in the round, no increases or decreases, no fancy pattern or texture, just knits and purls, and very little counting. So little stress and so much fun...WHY AREN'T YOU KNITTING YET???

Oh, I haven't given you the link...riiiight. Well, here it is: Squishy Baby Blocks, a free download from Ravelry, and here is a link to go to a copy of the pattern via Google Docs: Squishy Baby Blocks

So NOW what are you waiting for? Go make some blocks! You know you want to...

Some new beginnings are just because! (Yes, the multiples are taking over...it's CRAZY!)

But casting on makes me feel like a brand new knitter, so I've been doing a lot of it lately, and I have plans to cast on about 5 bazillion hats this week (which may be just a bit of an exaggeration). Actually, there are two puppy hats, 1 kitty hat and an apple hat (or two) in my plans, so maybe not quite 5 bazillion, but still a lot. :)

I figure that I am entitled to start some new things this week. After all, there have been some endings, too...like this pair of socks,

Wednesday, October 7, 2015

A friend moved away this week, and although we do not tag one another as BFFs on social media, I will miss her. However, I am excited for the plans God has for her next season, and I am glad that she will be living closer to some of her precious grandchildren! This is my open letter to Debby, and to so many of the women in my life with whom I have shared a season or more...even though we may have parted ways eventually:

It's always hard when friends move away, and I hate super-teary good-byes, but that doesn't mean I won't miss you. I will. Even though we have not spent vast amounts of one-on-one time together over the years, you have been a great influence on my life. Thank you.

Thank you for welcoming me warmly when I was new, for helping me to find my place in rooms full of women I didn't know...yet.

Thank you for the gift of your laughter. I love the way you enjoy life with all your heart.

Thank you for agreeing (after your husband agreed, maybe without telling you first) to keep my gangly and awkward pre-teens for a weekend while my hubby and I went on a Jr/Sr Hi retreat as sponsors.

Thank you for doing this multiple years...in a row.

Thank you for including the beagle as one of the kids, almost every time...even though she ate everything at your house...even non-beagle-food items.

Thank you for your smile, and for sharing it often.

Thank you for being a Proverbs 31 woman, and for living out Titus 2, training younger women (myself included) "to love their husbands and their children, to be pure, to work in their homes, to do good, and to be submissive to their husbands" through both your words and your own example as a wife.

Thank you for making it all look easy, but also being willing to admit that you aren't perfect and that you have struggles too.

Thank you for your encouragement when I had difficult times.

Thank you for loving me, and for being here, for such a long and wonderful season.

Now that the time has come for you to share your beautiful self with a new group of friends in a new town, I pray that God will continue to bless you richly, providing for your every need as he always has. I know that he is already at work preparing to bless another crop of friends through your heart and hands and feet.

Saturday, October 3, 2015

There is something about that first really cold, autumn day. We woke up to 46 chilly fahrenheit degrees this morning, windy and raining. I needed to create some warmth, so I turned on the oven to do some baking, made a hot cup of chamomile tea, and I got out my crochet hooks! After a quick Ravelry search, I found this pattern...

Now I have three leaves created (coasters, perhaps?), in leftover fall colors from last year sometime, and there's a hot chicken pot pie calling my name.

I hope that you are keeping cozy and crafty this weekend, wherever you are! If you're close, head on over for a taste of Ellie's homemade chicken pot pie...it is AMAZING stuff! Thank you, Ellie!

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About Me

I am a knitter and crafter in Northeast Ohio. My hubby and I were once high-school sweethearts. We now have an empty nest, with our children grown and gone, and we look forward to many years of spoiling our grandchildren!